Weblog entry #3 for muondude
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#3
Dell PowerEdge 850 with RAID
Posted by muondude on Fri 12 May 2006 at 18:56
I've been looking at the Dell PowerEdge 850 rack servers.
I'm interest in RAID and they use the CERC SATA RAID controller.
Anyone know if there are drivers under Debian for this device?
I've done some searching but have not found any clear documentation that helps me understand this controller and if it works under Debian.
I'm interest in RAID and they use the CERC SATA RAID controller.
Anyone know if there are drivers under Debian for this device?
I've done some searching but have not found any clear documentation that helps me understand this controller and if it works under Debian.
Comments on this Entry
I believe this controller is similar to some of the adaptec controllers. It may even be a fake raid card (cpu based raid, in which case MD raid might be a better choice)
We got an IBM x306m, and using the hostRAID (a fake raid card) had to bootstrap the installer using a kernel module compiled on a separate box. You may have to do similar with the Dell 850.
Dell has remarkably poor documentation on the drivers for the 850, A friend of mine bought one, and hat a heck of a time setting it up with even windows (he didn't buy a CDrom or floppy drive for it)
We got an IBM x306m, and using the hostRAID (a fake raid card) had to bootstrap the installer using a kernel module compiled on a separate box. You may have to do similar with the Dell 850.
Dell has remarkably poor documentation on the drivers for the 850, A friend of mine bought one, and hat a heck of a time setting it up with even windows (he didn't buy a CDrom or floppy drive for it)
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
The CERC SATA 6ch is a genuine PCI 64 bit card, as explained on the DELL website. It has 64MB of cache.
However I'm slightly perplexed by the "no battery backup".
Find someone who has done it, although the need to drop the DRAC card to install this one, makes me think maybe it isn't the best buy.
You must be building some meaty service to need a machine like this.
However I'm slightly perplexed by the "no battery backup".
Find someone who has done it, although the need to drop the DRAC card to install this one, makes me think maybe it isn't the best buy.
You must be building some meaty service to need a machine like this.
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]
I've loaded Suse on two PowerEdge machines, but they were both using the PERC (SCSI) systems, not the CERC. I also used Knoppix to back up the drives, so that bodes well for debian support (at least newer debian systems).
From what I've seen on the workstation end, both Sarge and Etch had trouble finding the Dell SATA drives in the GX280, I don't know what that says about SATA for Dell servers.
I don't know if any of that is helpful; sorry.
From what I've seen on the workstation end, both Sarge and Etch had trouble finding the Dell SATA drives in the GX280, I don't know what that says about SATA for Dell servers.
I don't know if any of that is helpful; sorry.
[ Parent | Reply to this comment ]